ABSTRACT
This chapter presents that political will and trust are important for fighting corruption at the executive level; corruption at the legislative level prevents legislatures from adequately performing their oversight tasks and fighting corruption. Corruption poses additional threats to the proper functioning of a political system: It erodes the representativeness and the legitimacy of the political institutions. The impact of corruption on the political will to promote good governance is always detrimental, regardless of whether corruption is real or just perceived, objective or subjective. Not only do citizens have little trust in parliaments, but parliaments are regarded among the most corrupt institutions. International organizations and practitioners have long believed that legislatures are the agents of society, that they enjoy the confidence of the public, that they are relatively free from corruption. The international community has generally regarded legislative oversight as the appropriate institutional mechanism to ensure that executives are kept accountable for their actions, their expenditures, and their policy implementation.
